Whilst everyone is entitled to an opinion, escflashmalta.com has called upon six individuals who are professionals in music with several successes within their respective careers. Apart from passing on their comments, they also passed on individual scores for each entry as well as a collective top ten which we counted to come up with ten qualifiers. All of the information is obtained from the official website of the international spectacle and indeed, pertaining to the running order as decided by the producers, Moldova will be performing in slot number twelve (12) from the sixteen (16) entries which will be competing during the first semi-final. TRM, the broadcaster resposible for the participation of Moldova in the Eurovision Song Contest will be represented by the song O Mie composed by Pasha Parfeny to the lyrics of Yuliana Scutaru with vocals set to be taken care of by Aliona Moon.

Aliona Moon is a rising star in the Moldovan music scene. She has already participated in the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest as a backing musician of Pasha Parfeny. Now the two artists have changed places, and Aliona will be the lead vocalist of this year's Eurovision entry, the touching ballad O Mie. Aliona Munteanu was born on the 25th of May 1989 in Chisinau. Ethnical Moldavian songs and lullabies sung by her mother cultivated Aliona’s love for music. Since her childhood Aliona was a member of lots of artistic collectives, where she performed both music and dances. As their member, Aliona participated at different contests in Hungary, Belarus, France, Romania, Bulgaria and of course in her motherland Moldova.

Later she was involved in the talent show Fabrica de Staruri 2 (Star Factory) where she gained the third place and the title of the public's favourite. With two of her ex-colleagues from Star Factory Aliona formed the pop band Thumbs Up. The band existed for two years until the break-up in 2011. After that, Aliona took some trophies at international musical festivals as a solo artist, most notably at the “Martisor Dorohoian” and “Dan Spataru” festivals, which were held in Romania. Aliona considered it a great experience to be Pasha Parfeny’s backing vocalist for Lautar in the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest. It encouraged and determined Aliona to participate in Moldovan national selection for the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest as a lead artist. Aliona’s talent and luck earned her the honour and right to represent Moldova in Malmö this year.

Following the successful result achieved by Pasha Parfeny at last years' edition of the Eurovision Song Contest with the song Lăutar, the broadcaster thought it best to have another national selection and one which would ultimately permit foreign songwriters to compete. The idea was to have a song pool from which qualified artists would have the opportunity to select songs and it seems to have fared quite well noting that the selection process was indeed a success. Some of the artists who performed on the demos of the songs in the actual pool ultimately made it and selected the track once more whilst others passed without their track and had to opt for another. Twenty-Four (24) participants took part in the semi-finals stage from which fourteen (14) made it through, seven (7) from each of the two semi-finals.

In the actual final, it seemed that the competition was tight and following the public vote which put Runaways by Boris Covali in pole position, the jury decided that Aliona was the better choice with O Mie, giving the public favourite third place. The public were still delighted because Aliona was actually their second choice, in a similar faith endured during the Malta Eurovision Song Contest. Moldova will be taking part in the Eurovision Song Contest for the ninth consecutive time and they have only missed the final on one occasion, that being in 2008 with Century of Love performed by Geta Burlacu finishing in twelfth place. Their best result remains to be their debut entry Bunika Bate Toba performed by Zdob şi Zdub which managed sixth place. Their second best result was a tenth place finish in 2007 with the song Fight by Natalia Barbu. 

Professional Critics Voice their Opinion

Rating: 27%

Magnus Kaxe: A power-ballad with a female artist that has got her hair stuck in a wind machine. Can this be a winning formula? I've heard the verse a million times before. Then the song builds into a random pre-chorus before getting on to the chorus. Or wait? Where is the chorus? Aha...the pre-chorus IS the chorus. No, this won't do. If one wants to compete in the Eurovision, one has to have a song WITH a chorus. Next please.

Lina Eriksson: Even if neither this song nor this singer is my coup of tea it has the drama melodically that often is well embraced by the ESC-fans. It might make it through the semi but it doesn't get my vote.

Matt Mercieca (Muxu): OH WOW, her hair, the dress, what is happening here? ok got distracted, back to the song, nothing special, i'm sorry i can't get over the outfit I MEAN the dress changes colours, WHY? haha. song is average. and then the sudden change just makes it bad.

Source: eurovision.tv

Moldova, the final country to select their entry for the 2013 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest taking place in Malmö have just made their selection in favour of a female by the name of Aliona Moon whose entry bears the name A Million. The track was poised for success well before the actual live shows had commenced for the simple reason that it is written by Pasha Parfeny who represented Moldova in last years' edition of the Eurovision Song Contest achieving eleventh place, the second best result for the nation since their initial participation back in 2005 when they had submitted the song Bunika Bate Toba performed by Zdob şi Zdub.

A Million was one of the songs which the public somewhat seemed to enjoy especially those in the audience who gave it an astonishing applause. It finished in second place with the public vote but nevertheless got the bulk of the jury vote making it the outright winner and beating another favourite in the form of Runaways performed by Boris Covali. Moldova will be competing in the second half of the first semi-final and thus not alongside Tomorrow performed by Gianluca on behalf of Malta. As reported in our live coverage done by Antoine Farrugia, Aliona is wearing a dress which has projections and that will surely be an intriguing element considering that it is becoming popular. The same effect was seen at the Grammy Awards and last years' Eurovision Song Contest. Stay tuned to escflashmalta.com for all of the latest news as soon as it becomes available.

Source: TRM

TRM, the public broadcaster of Moldova officially became a member of the Eurovision Song Contest back in 2005 and each participation has somewhat been identified in a positive manner except for once where qualification was not assured but nevertheless, a slight dent in their respective proceedings. In 2012, a national final took place which saw to the victory of Pasha Parfeny with the track Lăutar and the choice was sublime noting that it picked up public and jury votes to finish in eleventh place with more than eighty points. This time round, the broadcaster is going about their selection process in a different method and Pasha is still involved in one particular entry.

Despite their success, it was well thought of that a change in the selection was needed and the broadcaster would like to ascertain that the best possible package is chosen hence why they are looking for the artist and the song in a separate fashion. Artists could have submitted songs themselves but some issues came up which eventually even led to the withdrawal of former representatives, Natalia Barbu who was slightly worried that despite passing with the song, other performers could make use of her entry, possibly even winning the selection against her. The rules state that once the track makes it into the pool of songs, it could have more than one artist. You could find the list of the sixty tracks chosen through the official website of the broadcaster. In the meantime though, the qualifying artist are as follows;

• Anna Gulko
• Inaya
• Felicia Dunaf
• Cristina Scarlat
• Stela Boţan
• Vitalie Negruţa
• Doiniţa Gherman
• Irina Taraşiuc
• Aliona Moon
• Fire Love
• Ruslan Ţaranu
• Cristina Croitoru & Karizma
• Aurel Chirtoacă
• Alexandru Şendrea
• Svetlana Bogdanova
• Boris Covali
• Cristina V.
• Tatiana Heghea
• Denis Latîşev
• NiCo
• Irina Chitoroagă
• Vitalie Maciunschi
• Dara
• Valeria Paşa

The jury for the first phase of the selection included two former representatives, Geta Burlacu who had failed to reach the final back in 2008 and Nelly Ciobanu whose entry Hora Din Moldova reached fourteenth place in 2009. There are a number of notable performers including none other than Boris Covali, Doiniţa Gherman, Cristina Croitoru & Karizma respectively but the focus is seemingly on an upcoming performer known as Aliona Moon whose entry entitled A Million is written and produced by the 2012 representative, Pasha Parfeny. The artist, who was a backing vocalist during the successful performance of the country at the Eurovision Song Contest is hoping that she could be the one to succeed this time round. Stay tuned to escflashmalta.com for the latest news.

The appointed critics for this years' edition of the reviews prior to the Eurovision Song Contest have been sharing their views on the tracks that are competing in this years' event and has somewhat agreed that whilst there are some smashing tracks in this first semi-final, the winner will most likely come out either of the second semi-final or through the five finalists that have made the billing due to their nations' status. The penultimate draw in the first evening set to take place on the 22nd May has been given to the country of Moldova who have had quite an entertaining set of entries throughout the years. This time round it does not seem to be any different as the singer; Pasha Parfeny will be taking to the stage to perform the song Lăutar which he wrote alongside Alex Brashovean. The song was chosen in a national final held earlier this year beating out former representative Geta Burlacu along the way.

Pasha Parfeny was born on May 30th, 1986 in Moldova. Music has always played an important role in his life. Pasha’s parents who are both musicians have always supported his musical career. Pasha’s mother was a piano teacher at the music school of the city of Orhei. His father was a singer and guitarist. Pasha Parfeny started his musical career at the age of seven, studying classical piano at the music school. In 2002 he entered Tiraspol Music College where he gained a lot of experience as a vocalist. Later on, in 2006, Pasha Parfeny continued his musical studies at the State Academy of Music, Theatre and Fine Arts where he tried himself as a composer.

Pasha is also known as a former member of the band Sunstroke Project. 2009 the band with Pasha Parfeny as the vocalist participated in the Moldovan Eurovision qualifying contest where they came third with their song No Crime. In late autumn 2010, Pasha's contract expired and he left the band. In 2010, the singer participated in the Moldovan national selection with his song You Should Like and finished second. Pasha Parfeny is the owner of some musical prizes and awards. Already in 2003, he was awarded Grand Prix at the competition Voices Of Transnistria.

In 2007, Pasha Parfeny got the first place in the festivals Duet Of The Year and Silver Lantrei in Bulgaria. In 2009, the artist took part in the International Festival of pop music George Grigoriu where he won another Grand Prize. In the same year, Pasha Parfeny participated in Mamaia Contest in Romania where he got the first place in the creation section with Andrew Tudor’s song You Do Not See The Sky. And last but not least, the singer is a winner of the International Music Festival Slavianski Bazar in Vitebsk in 2009.

The Critics Voice Their Opinion

Jan Van Dijck

• Catchy song with some real Balkan sounds here. The song itself is uplifting and well performed by Pasha. Will it get into the big final? Maybe yes, maybe no. I believe this is another borderline type of track, hence six (6) points will do in this case.

Knut-Oyvind Hagen

• This song represents something I love about Eurovision, bringing in national elements so that I feel I am a visitor in Moldova when I hear it. It has an uplifting energy, and a positive spirit that shall be credited! But even so, we are not going to Moldova next May. I agree with my colleague above, therefore, six (6) points are just right.

Pitchtunes

• A balkan influenced sound with a Ricky Martin like performance. A nice combination that has a good rhythm and a nice instrumentation. Slight disagreement with our friends above, we will go for five (5) points instead of six for this one.

Entry Background

Performer: Pasha Parfeny

Composers: Pasha Parfeny & Alex Brashovean

Author: Pasha Parfeny

Song: Lăutar 

Language: English

Broadcaster: TRM

History of the Nation

Moldova entered the Eurovision Song Contest for the very first time seven years ago, making it one of the last countries to join the competition. Their premier entry remains to date their most successful with the group Zdob şi Zdub finishing in sixth place with the song Bunika Bate Toba. They have managed to enter the final, six out of the seven times they have entered with Geta Burlacu being the only one to fail to make it through with the song A Century of Love finishing in twelfth place in the semi-final. In the past two years, they have been quite lucky to finish in tenth place within the semi-final but last year with the group Zdob şi Zdub who took part for the second time, they got their third best result by virtue of finishing in twelfth place, six places lower than their first try with So Lucky still proving to be a popular track. Will Pasha, the first male artist to represent Moldova bring about some luck? This will be seen in due time.

Source: Eurovision.tv for the Biographical Information and all respective media

The Team of Radio International would like to invite to join the weekly Ultimate Eurovision Experience. The Show is broadcast on 106.8FM and Digital Cabel 41 in the Netherlands and also via the internet via www.radiointernational.tv and will also be web-televised via the show's own Live Video Channel via the website. The simulcast will be from 2000 – 2300 hours CET this Wednesday.

Interview with Jedward (Ireland 2011 and 2012):  

Lilian, Eric and JP had the big pleasure to interview Jedward at the recent Eurovision in Concert event in Amsterdam. Jeward already competed at the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 reaching 8th place with "Lipstick" and in a national selection earlier on this year the Irish Nation selected Jedward again to represent Ireland again at the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest in Baku, Azerbaijan with the song "Waterline". Last week Radio International aired the interview with Jedward's Mentor and 1992 Eurovision Song Contest Winner - Linda Martin who will be accompanying Jedward also to Baku. But this week on Radio International enjoy the crazy twins in interview. 

Eurovision in Concert 2012:  

Last Saturday, 21 April 2012, the annual Eurovision Music extravaganza took place in Amsterdam for the fourth time where this year is a record of 24 countries' representatives performed their entry to the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 which will come from Baku, Azerbaijan on May 22, 24 and 26. The event was a full success with an early start for the artists and journalists meeting in the delegation hotel in Amsterdam for the first session of interviews. After a Word of Welcome from EBU's Sietse Bakker the artists were taken by boat to the centre of Amsterdam for their soundcheck in the venue for the evening - The Melkweg. That also included the second session of interviews with the many international media that was accredited. The Team of Radio International in combination with Poplight from Sweden were also present to conduct as many interviews as possible with the 2012 Hopefulls. This week on Radio International listen to interviews with the representatives of Azerbaijan, Ireland, Latvia, Moldova and Slovenia.   

Interview with Sabina Babayeva (Azerbaijan 2012):  

The host country Azerbaijan where the 57th Eurovision Song Contest takes place will be represented by Sabina Babayeva. In 2011 Eldar & Nigar won the Eurovision Song Contest with "Running Scared" with this victory taking the contest to Baku, Azerbaijan. Following in the footsteps is now the song "When the music dies" which is already qualified and competes in the Grand Final on Saturday, 26 May 2012 on lucky Number 13. Listen to a short interview with the singer which was done last weekend in Amsterdam at Eurovision in Concert.  

Eurovision Song Contest Sportlight - Eurovision in Concert 2012 Recap:  

The Radio International Irish Voice will be returning on this week's edition of Radio International - Dermot Manning who will be taking a look back at Europe's biggest promotion event that happened last weekend in Amsterdam - Eurovision in Concert 2012 with 24 artists performing their country's entry to the Eurovision Song Contest 2012. Dermot will be chatting about the most memorable moments on the show this week.  

Interview with Anmary (Latvia 2012):  

Number 4 in Semi Final 1 of the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 is the starting position for this year's entry from Latvia - Anmary who will be performing "Beautiful Song" on Tuesday, 22 May 2012. Anmary was also part of the line-up of Eurovision in Concert last weekend in Amsterdam. Lilian and JP interviewed the singer which you can hear during this week's edition of the show.  

Euro Friends Song Contest 2012 with Andy Simon:

Continuing with the Euro Friends Song Contest in search for the ultimate Eurovision song as voted for by the many fans around the world. Andy  Simon joins us every week to reveal the qualifiers for the next round.  The website of the Euro Friends Song Contest www.euro-friends.com where you can easily vote for your favourite Eurovision song per country and also see The Euro-Friends TV Show as hosted by Andy Simon. You can also join the Facebook Group. This week Andy looks at the next qualifiers from Heat 46 (Netherlands).

Interview with Eva Boto (Slovenia 2012): 

This year's entry from Slovenia is performed by Eva Boto who will be competing in Semi FInal 2 at Number 9 with the song "Verjamem" with this following in the footsteps of Maya Keuc who reached Number 13 in the Grand Final in 2011 with the song "No One". Let's see if this year Eva can top that result for Slovenia. Eva was also part of Eurovision in Concert in Amsterdam last weekend where the Team of Radio International met the very young singer for a brief interviews which you can hear during this week's edition of Radio International. 

Eurovision Song Contest News with Luke Fisher from escXtra.com:

Check out the latest developments connected to the Eurovision Song Contest. Whether it is music releases of Eurovision performers, appearances, special concerts, gossip, news, etc. Luke will have the latest updates during this week's edition of the show.

Interview with Pasha Parfeny (Moldova 2012):  

Moldova this year will be represented by Pasha Parfeny whose entry to the 2012 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest is called "Lautar" and will bein Semi Final 1 on Tuesday, 22 May 2012 at Number 17. Pasha was also in the line-up of Eurovision in Concert 2012 in Amsterdam last weekend and also became an "interview victim" when Lilian Brunell caught up with the singer awaiting his soundcheck. Listen to this interview with week on Radio International.  

Eurovision Music Requests/Eurovision Quiz:

A big part of the show is playing listeners' requests. Submit your requests and / or greetings to your Eurovision friends through Radio International via the CONTACT Link on www.radiointernational.tv or via This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . But also don’t miss out on the weekly Eurovision Quiz where you can win something.

Join Radio International on Wednesday, 25 April 2012 from 2000 - 2300 hours CET, via the website or on FM. Radio International is available live via www.radiointernational.tv and on FM 106.8 and Digital Cabel Channel 41 in parts of the Netherlands. Should you not be able to listen live, the show will appear in the Programme’s Show Archive a few hours after it’s airing on the radio.

Source: Team of Radio International